In May our oldest child graduated from home schooling. Yes, home schooling can be done successfully all the way through high school. She is currently doing quite well in college, majoring in English just as I did. The nine years I had with her at home, teaching her and watching her grow, are so precious to me now! She's off on her own, although still living at home, forging her own way on the collegiate scene. One advantage she has discovered in living at home is that she has a live-in proofreader and discussion partner for her papers. So in a way the home schooling continues.
So I have two children still attending Salt & Light Christian School full-time. It seems odd to only have to keep track of two kids and all their work. As I have done in the past, here is a summary of what we are doing this year for their schooling.
Mary is in 9th grade this year. Through our co-op she's taking Physical Science, Spanish 1, Art-Mixed Media, and Art-Drawing. She currently has an "A" in every class. At home she also studies Geometry, Geography, Health, and Language Arts. For Language Arts this year she is doing Easy Grammar 9 and four Progeny Press Literature Guides (A Christmas Carol, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Fahrenheit 451.) She has completed the first two so far. The Progeny Press guides cover reading comprehension, vocabulary, literary terminology, literary interpretation and criticism, and writing everything from short answers to long research papers. In addition to the assigned books, Mary is constantly reading books from the library, and about 90% of her Christmas wish-list consisted of books. Mary is also still working on writing left-handed; she can already print very neatly and is starting to learn cursive. I never knew that someone could decide to be ambidextrous!
Bobby is in 7th grade. At co-op he's taking Art-2-D (taught by a former home schooler who is a junior at SCAD,) Critical Thinking, and a middle-school level Human Anatomy & Physiology. At home he adds to these: Pre-Algebra, Sonlight World History and Literature (what used to be Core 6 and is now Core G,) Jump-In Writing, and Daily Grams 7. The literature in the Sonlight Core G is not really challenging him this year, so we are supplementing with lots of books from the library.
I asked the two of them recently what they would like to be doing more of, or learning, that we are not already doing. Mary said that she would like to be doing more community service (at the Humane Society and America's 2nd Harvest,) and Bobby said he would like to study Middle English. Their personalities, likes, and dislikes are so different! Mary's request is pretty easy; we can just schedule in time to do that. Bobby's seemed a little daunting until I discovered that you can study Middle English online. He has always loved all things Medieval, and now he can learn to read Chaucer in the original. How about that!
Next post: what I'm reading in all my spare time!
So I have two children still attending Salt & Light Christian School full-time. It seems odd to only have to keep track of two kids and all their work. As I have done in the past, here is a summary of what we are doing this year for their schooling.
Mary is in 9th grade this year. Through our co-op she's taking Physical Science, Spanish 1, Art-Mixed Media, and Art-Drawing. She currently has an "A" in every class. At home she also studies Geometry, Geography, Health, and Language Arts. For Language Arts this year she is doing Easy Grammar 9 and four Progeny Press Literature Guides (A Christmas Carol, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Fahrenheit 451.) She has completed the first two so far. The Progeny Press guides cover reading comprehension, vocabulary, literary terminology, literary interpretation and criticism, and writing everything from short answers to long research papers. In addition to the assigned books, Mary is constantly reading books from the library, and about 90% of her Christmas wish-list consisted of books. Mary is also still working on writing left-handed; she can already print very neatly and is starting to learn cursive. I never knew that someone could decide to be ambidextrous!
Bobby is in 7th grade. At co-op he's taking Art-2-D (taught by a former home schooler who is a junior at SCAD,) Critical Thinking, and a middle-school level Human Anatomy & Physiology. At home he adds to these: Pre-Algebra, Sonlight World History and Literature (what used to be Core 6 and is now Core G,) Jump-In Writing, and Daily Grams 7. The literature in the Sonlight Core G is not really challenging him this year, so we are supplementing with lots of books from the library.
I asked the two of them recently what they would like to be doing more of, or learning, that we are not already doing. Mary said that she would like to be doing more community service (at the Humane Society and America's 2nd Harvest,) and Bobby said he would like to study Middle English. Their personalities, likes, and dislikes are so different! Mary's request is pretty easy; we can just schedule in time to do that. Bobby's seemed a little daunting until I discovered that you can study Middle English online. He has always loved all things Medieval, and now he can learn to read Chaucer in the original. How about that!
Next post: what I'm reading in all my spare time!
